By: Alenka Jeraj
This week we almost saw a journalist in prison. Yes, in Slovenia, not in Russia. Sounds unbelievable. The High Court in Ljubljana, the court panel that issued the detention order for Bojan Požar, consisted of judges Igor Mokorel, Katarina Turk Lukan, and Boris G. Hrovat.
Bojan Požar was acquitted in the first instance court in a lawsuit in which a private prosecutor sued Požar for the offense of insulting charges, but former owners of Večer Hakl and Todorović subsequently appealed against the first instance court’s decision. The appeal was decided by the Appeals Chamber of the Ljubljana High Court, but Požar did not attend the sessions because he considered that his presence was not necessary, as the sessions were convened at the request of another party. As Požar did not attend the hearing before the higher court on March 16th, the court ordered that he be forcibly brought to court on March 23rd. The arrest, which would allegedly be carried out by the Ljubljana Bežigrad Police Administration, did not take place because the police did not find Požar at home. The High Court therefore held that Požar was evading the main hearing before the court and ordered his detention.
When the information came to light, the Association of Journalists and Publicists called on the Ljubljana High Court to immediately revoke the decision to detain journalist and editor Bojan Požar. They assessed that it was more than obvious an excessive measure and a blatant abuse of justice, which we did not witness even in the period of the most severe socialism. The Association of Journalists and many other journalists did not respond, we could say that they kept silent, although they usually respond to a tweet referring to a journalist. It should be noted that in the last 5 years no one has been detained for absence from trial, and these were cases where the presence of the defendant was mandatory. The Supreme Court also assessed that this was an excessive measure, which annulled the decision on detention, as it assessed that the order of detention against Požar in the criminal and civil lawsuit due to the criminal offense of insulting accusation was not necessary or required. In the decision, it found that Požar did not evade invitations to hearings of the Appeals Chamber of the High Court, nor did he violate the procedural law by not attending the sessions of the Appeals Chamber, as the Chamber of Appeals may hold sessions even if the parties who have been properly informed or invited to the meeting do not attend.
You probably still remember that journalist Miro Petek was almost killed for writing about Corinthian tycoons, but the case was never fully investigated, and no one ended up in prison. We still had some brave journalists who wrote about the deep country, e.g., Danilo Slivnik, who also died in strange circumstances called suicide. Igor Omerza and Rado Pezdir write about the Slovenian underground and the history of the secret police – UDBA. But in these cases, which would need to be investigated and the perpetrators punished, our judiciary is looking away, while deciding that journalist Bojan Požar should go to prison.
But we also have other journalists, e.g., from Radio Slovenia, who are talking about winning! Where? When? Do they go to the polls with their party or, do they publicly agitate and support a certain party as journalists?
I was shocked to see the public tribune, where Marcel Štefančič, the host of the Studio City show, said: “There are more of us than them. There are only a handful of them. And we know who they are.” Who is he talking about? Who is threatened? Are these not his journalist colleagues?
RTV Slovenia must report objectively, balanced, and verify information. Journalists, like all of us, are politically defined. They go to the polls every 4 years and circle someone from a certain political party. This is democracy, and rightly so. Their work on RTV Slovenia also shows who is more left-wing and who is more right-wing. There is nothing wrong with this when they do shows in which they present their views on a matter. I am talking about commentary or maybe Utrip show. In recent years, we have not seen more right-wing or centre-thinking in the Utrip show. The shows were prepared by Mojca Šetinc Pašek, Manica Ambrožič and others. Jadranka Rebernik was not allowed to prepare it for at least two years. After the change of the director of the Television and the editor of the Information Programme, we received 2 Utrip shows, which were made by Dr Jože Možina, and 2 by Igor Pirkovič. In the meantime, we also saw the Utrip of Mojca Šetinc Pašek, who joined Golob’s Gibanje Svoboda party and is obviously no longer a journalist, but a politician. Also, 90% of journalists who leave the journalistic ranks and get involved in politics end up in left-wing parties. Among them are Tanja Fajon, Melita Župevec, Marjan Šarec, Tamara Vonta, Janja Klasinc, Majda Širca, Mitja Meršol, Irena Jovova, …
When I asked Dr Bašič Hrvatin, a professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences and a media specialist, about why there is no right-wing daily in Slovenia, if left and right journalists are trained at FDV, she could not answer me. We are still very far from media pluralism. Moreover, the situation seems to be getting worse. Probably because of such an unbalanced media space, a new media house Nova24TV was founded 5 years ago, and later the weekly Domovina and several portals (Časnik, Slovenec).
It seems to be a historic election. Like those in 2004, when journalists decided to strike on election day. Imagine something like this in some other country. On election day, because it was obvious that they would not like the result. Let me remind you that the SDS won strongly at that time and then formed a government after the elections.
Then, in 2008, journalists gathered again and signed a petition in which they claimed that Janez Janša, as Prime Minister, was putting pressure on them and that he was therefore not suitable for the presidency of the EU Council. Even journalists from the homeless magazine Kralji ulice and the children’s magazine Ciciban signed a petition. Well-known Blaž Zgaga, Marjan Šarec and a whole bunch of journalists who can be safely described as left-wing. No one prosecuted them for it. They continued to do their job and moved even further to the left. Slovenia, under the leadership of Janez Janša, passed the first presidency, as well as the second, which was also chaired by Janez Janša, with distinction.
Apparently, there is a great fear of the result again this year. So big that one of the louder journalists needs to be imprisoned and prevented from reporting and commenting on current political topics.
If before the 2014 elections the judges decided that they should imprison a politician who had high support among voters and led the best organised political party, with the largest number of members in Slovenia, which was then annulled by the Constitutional Court, this year disturbing journalists are not shouting in the same horn with the majority, who are increasingly becoming agitators for the left political bloc or even socio-political workers than they were in the previous regime. Where did we get to, I wonder?
The leader of the LMŠ parliamentary group, Brane Golubovič, said in a show on RTV Slovenia that there was one journalist who wrote for a right-wing newspaper, but then he became normal. For the Slovenian left, everything that is right is abnormal. And even though they are full of democracy, they do not allow it in the slightest. They do not understand that we are different. That we have a different view of the world. That one thinks more to the left, the other to the right. And we are all here together and we must coexist. Respect each other and different opinions. They are full of clichés, e.g., everyone is different, everyone is equal, but they do not tolerate any difference. In their opinion, everyone should think the same, and anyone who resigns is a fascist, a Janša supporter, or something like that.
The solution lies in tolerance and awareness that in Slovenia people live and create with different beliefs, and if we want a successful Slovenia, we will have to accept and internalise this fact. We already have. Colleagues on the left will also have to accept the fact that the right-wing government is in power from time to time, and there is nothing wrong with that. In a democracy, the left and the right alternate in power, sometimes even forming a coalition together, and there is nothing wrong with that. Government seats are not reserved only for the representatives of one half of the voters in Slovenia. This is called democracy. In fact, these are the foundations of democracy. Obviously, we would need some education and training in this direction. To learn the basics of democracy, which some find so difficult to accept, but which are characteristic of the developed world. Unfortunately, Slovenia is still trapped in some old patterns. And democracy is only slowly making its way into our daily lives. It is the job of all of us to help with this. If we really love Slovenia.
Alenka Jeraj is a member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, president of the Fran Govekar Ig Association, mother, poet, director, volleyball player, skier, optimist 🙂